The Very Long Road
by DisneyAnimefan94
Summary: Ash looks back at his past five League experiences before his match with Alan.


**The Very Long Road**

 **Well everyone, todays the day. After nineteen long years, Ash has finally made it to the Pokémon League Championship, and if he wins next week, the nineteen year long wait will soon be over. So here's a little Pokémon fanfiction story I made to honor the occasion, and as always enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon!**

It was late at night in Lumiose City, and Ash along with his Pikachu were in the Lumiose Stadium looking over the field.

"This is it Pikachu." Ash said as his partner looked at him. "After five years, we've finally made it to the Pokémon League championship." He said as Pikachu nodded.

"Hey Ash." A female voice belonging to his childhood friend as Ash looked back to see Serena along with Bonnie and Clemont.

"Oh hi Serena." Ash said as the three walked up to him.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Bonnie.

"Yeah, you should be in bed to get some rest for your battle against Alan tomorrow." Clemont pointed out.

"Sorry guys." Ash said scratching the back of his head. "It's just that I was thinking."

"Thinking? About what?" Asked Bonnie.

"About my past experiences in the past league tournaments." He said. "I felt it was just yesterday when I made my league debut back in Kanto in the Indigo Conference. Back then I wasn't the same Ash as I was now, I was always prideful of my Pokémon thinking they were already strong and didn't need any training, boy was I wrong. The first few trainers I faced were a bit challenging and I only one by luck whether it was one of my Pokémon evolving in the middle of a battle or they were unaffected to physical attacks. But either way I made it to the top sixteen battling against Ritchie and came down between his Pikachu and my Charizard. But just before I could get a chance, Charizard just laid on the battle field, ignoring my response and I lost." He said.

"Wow, that must've been hard for you." Bonnie said as everyone nodded.

"It was for me, since it was my first league tournament." Ash said. "Then one year later, I journeyed to Johto and entered the Silver Conference. This time, I would have to win two of my three matches, in a round robin tournament in order to make it back to round of sixteen again. And this time I finally battled against Gary and beat him." He said as Serena gasped.

"Wow, I can't believe you beat him." She said as Ash nodded.

"Anyway, I made it to the quarter finals for the first time and battled against a trainer from Hoenn named Harrison." He said. "It was a back and forth, six on six full battle until it came down between my Charizard, and his Blazeakin, and unlike last time in Kanto, Charizard listened to me. Neither one of our Pokémon wanted to give up, until Charizard ran out of gas and was defeated ending my run in Johto." He said. "The next year I went to Hoenn and after acquiring all eight gym badges, I entered the Ever Grande Conference Hoenn League." He said. "It was not easy getting to the victory stage of the tournament though, first I had to win a one on one battle in the preliminary round, and then in the qualifying round, I had to be in a double battle. Both weren't easy but I made it through and made it back to the quarter finals and battled this trainer named Tyson. Tyson was really tough and it came down to his Meowth and Pikachu. It all came down to one final move, and Tyson's Meowth won and that was the end of my Hoenn run." He said.

"Sounds like you came so close to the semifinals both times." Clemont pointed out as Ash nodded.

"Yeah, because you must've made it to the semifinals after that." Serena added.

"Well, actually two years ago I actually made it." Ash said as his friends gasped.

"Really? You did?" Bonnie asked.

"Yup." Ash said. "It was at the Sinnoh League's Lilly of the Valley Conference." He said. "And let me tell ya, it was a real challenge. Almost all of my league matches were against a friendly rival that I made. In my quarterfinal match, I battled against I rival I met named Paul who only cared about stronger Pokémon and excluding out any weak Pokémon on his team by either releasing them or giving them away."

"Wow, I can't believe someone like that could do such a thing." Clemont said amazed.

"Yeah, me too." Ash said. "Our battle in the quarterfinals was tough but I finally beat him, and made it to the semifinals for the first time." He said as his friends had smiles on their faces.

"Wow, that's amazing." Bonnie smiled.

"So how did that one go?" Serena asked as Ash felt a little embarrassed.

"Well, during the tournament, I heard about a trainer who one all his Pokémon battles by using just his Darkrai." He said as everyone gasped.

"You mean the legendary Pokémon?" Clemont asked as Ash nodded.

"And the trainer, Tobias was the one I was paired up with in the semifinals, and he and his Darkrai lived up to their reputation as they knocked out almost my entire team until my Sceptile was able to finally defeat it. "But just as I defeated one legendary, Tobias had another in the wing as he brought out a Latios which took out Sceptile and later was double KO'd with Pikachu, but since he had four more spots he didn't use, he moved on, and to this day that loss really stings."

"I know the feeling." Serena said remembering her loss at the Master Class Showcase.

"So just last year, I went to Unova for a vacation with my mom and Professor Oak. But what was a vacation turned into my next Pokémon journey as I challenged all of the Unova gyms and entered the Unova League's Vertress Conference. As always each round was tough but once again I made it back to the quarterfinals, where I faced off against a new friend I made named Cameron. And while he was a good friend, he wasn't that quite bright." He said.

"What do you mean?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, during our match he thought a full battle was a five on five battle when it was really a six on six battle." He said causing his friend to giggle a bit. "So he battled with just five Pokémon and his fifth Pokémon was his partner Riolu. But in the middle of our battle Riolu evolved into a Lucario and he was able to knock out my Snivy. So it came down to my Pikachu, but with Lucario's new found strength he was able to beat Pikachu." He said as everyone just blinked. "When I first met Alexa on my journey home and told me about the Kalos Region, I wanted to go and challenge the Kalos League, promising myself that I would win the league this year. And boy what a year it is." He said looking at everyone. "I made new friends," He said looking at Clemont and Bonnie. "Reunited with an old one," Looking at Serena causing her to blush. "And making lots of new Pokémon friends. He said as everyone smiled.

"Ash, I know you can do it." Serena said.

"Yeah, me too, me too!" Bonnie said as Dedenne and Squishy agreed with her.

"And with your positive attitude and confidence, I calculate a one hundred percent chance of winning it tomorrow." Clemont said as Ash smiled.

"And like you told me during my Master Class, win or lose you'll always be a Pokémon Master to us." Serena said her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"Thanks everyone." He said as he and his friends put their hands in. "Alright you guys, tomorrows the day I win it all." Then they all threw their hands in the air.

"YEAH!" They all shouted. The next day, Ash was standing in the tunnel ready for his turn to get introduced. When he heard his name, he walked out with a confident look on his face.

 _It's finally here. The day I've dreamed about ever since I was a little boy. Everyone, Brock, Misty, Tracy, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Clemont, Bonnie, Serena…_ An image of everyone came into his mind and when Serena's smiling face came into view, Ash couldn't help but blush a bit. _I'm dedicating this match to everyone who helped and supported me._ He said as he the light of the stadium come into view as he was ready for the biggest match of his life.

 **So yeah, in my opinion, a year passes every time Ash enters a new region, not counting the Orange Islands, the Kanto Battle Frontier and the Decalor Islands meaning this year Ash would be around 15ish and should he go to Alola next season for Season 20, he would be around 16. Or do you think he's older or younger than that? Well either then that, let's cross our fingers and hope Ash wins because it would be big considering this year is the 20** **th** **anniversary for Pokémon. So until next time,**

 **This is DisneyAnimefan94, signing out.**


End file.
